Volume 1, Episode 12
Of course, having Mimir around made life easier in far more ways than it made it inconvenient, so there was no reason to complain. Seherbian savored the brief taste of freedom and set his now-empty hands on his hips.
“So.”
“Yes?”
“Have people’s illnesses gotten any better?”
“Ah….”
“That’s actually what I came out to see.”
At the news that Winter Bell cared about the people of Hartney Territory, Kisha grew so excited that she impulsively held out her hand.
“W-would you like to come see with me?”
Somewhere overhead, a white crow came swooping in and flew high above them. Its silver feathers scattered through the air like snowflakes, and just as Seherbian was admiring the sight, he took the girl’s hand in his own.
The brown-haired girl broke into a bright smile.
* * *
Since the illness was one that naturally faded with the coming of winter, the village had grown lively again in just a few days.
Most especially, the winter butterfly tree petals Seherbian had personally gone out and obtained had worked almost instantly against the plague. Even patients who had languished in bed for years could swallow the medicine, sleep soundly for a single night, and rise the next day as if the sickness had never touched them.
The same had been true of Kisha’s mother, Erill. Fully cured at last, Erill Hartney had returned to her post as lord and was busy attending to the territory’s long-neglected affairs.
Everything was going smoothly.
Except for one thing—an unexpected development even Winter Bell had not foreseen.
“Priest!”
“Yes?”
“We want to serve Winter Bell too!”
The villagers, newly energized and full of life, came crowding in one after another, all saying they wanted to become priests of Winter Bell. At first they had only been curious why a priest had come here with a royal mage, but that confusion had quickly given way to excitement. They grabbed at Seherbian and chattered noisily over one another.
“How can we become priests?”
“I’d like to make a modest donation to the Dragon Temple….”
“If I can’t become a priest, I’d even be happy to volunteer for regular temple cleaning. Just say the word!”
“…….”
Seherbian pretended not to notice the people burning with such fierce enthusiasm and lowered his gaze to the ground.
What is this. They’re way too passionate.
Not even Rowan, the last dragon priest, had been this devoted to temple work. More than that, there had never been anyone who offered to make donations or volunteer out of their own will.
For ordinary people, Winter Bell was an object of fear—not a dragon they were eager to get involved with like this.
With equal parts bewilderment and curiosity, Seherbian asked them in return, “Aren’t you afraid of Winter Bell?”
“Huh? Priest, what are you saying?”
A farmer with a splendid beard let out a hearty laugh. He was the same man who had volunteered to clean the temple.
“Of course we’re afraid!”
“Then why?”
“Winter Bell is a terrifying being, yes, but He’s also a benevolent one who uses that power for our sake, isn’t He?”
While Seherbian stood there at a loss, not exactly having thought of helping anyone in particular, the people continued to trade cheerful remarks back and forth.
“So naturally, we’d want to do something for Him too!”
“That’s right. If you’ve received a kindness, it’s only right to repay it, isn’t that so? Hahaha.”
Only right.
It was something he had never heard before.
Winter Bell had always listened to prayers, granted them, and been cursed for doing so. Through all of that, no one had ever said, “We’ve received your kindness, so we’ll repay it.”
What’s the difference?
Seherbian sank into deep thought.
The prayers he had answered over the years, and the wish Kisha had made.
Had his attitude changed anywhere along the way?
While he remained silent, the people around him fell into their own easy chatter.
“Come to think of it, don’t priests only come from nobility?”
“Oh dear, that’s right. We’re commoners, so that won’t do.”
“Then what about Miss Kisha?”
At someone’s casual remark, everyone turned with a collective “Oh?”
“Miss Kisha’s nobility, isn’t she?”
“Ah, that’s right!”
“But would the young lady even want to become a priest?”
At that very moment, a small figure pushed through the crowd and answered.
“Of course!”
Tap-tap-tap!
It was Kisha, who had just finished what she needed to do and run out of the manor.
Smiling brightly, she trotted up to Seherbian.
There was no need to go searching all over the place to find him; tracking down Seherbian’s location was easy enough, considering how he always ended up surrounded by people wherever he went.
By late arrival, Kisha had dressed in her black-violet family formalwear and quickly straightened her posture before making a noble’s bow.
Her brown hair, braided into a single plait, slipped over the curve of her lowered neck.
“I, Kisha Hartney….”
Her voice was so solemn it was almost unnaturally formal, and Seherbian looked at her with a little more seriousness than before.
“Request to become a dragon priest of Winter Bell.”
“……Haa. You too, Kisha.”
Seherbian pressed a hand to his forehead and let out a long sigh, but Kisha merely giggled and peeked at his expression.
“Will you accept me?”
Normally, the official process of becoming a priest required years of proper education under the Papal See before authorization was granted. But for dragon priests, there were times when the procedure was skipped if the guardian dragon appointed them directly.
The villagers didn’t know it, but when a dragon chose a dragon priest in person, social standing was not an issue at all. Even a commoner was qualified if they pleased the dragon’s heart. That was how absolute the guardian dragon was, a representative of the gods with divine authority greater than anyone else’s.
“It’ll be lonely.”
Seherbian looked down at Kisha with calm eyes.
“If you’ve been there, you know the Winter Dragon Temple sits in the middle of a frozen plain. No one passes by, and it’s cold all year round. Even winter-born trees struggle to survive there.”
As she listened, Kisha thought back to the place she had once seen. Winter Bell’s domain, Blanconia, had truly been a vast expanse of snow. There had been no sign of life anywhere. Even death seemed to lie quietly buried beneath the white.
“And sometimes frost spiders show up. If those things crawl into the temple and spin frost everywhere, the place freezes over, and cleaning it up becomes a real pain.”
That was directed at the volunteer for temple cleaning.
“Even if you have money, there’s nowhere around there to spend it, since it’s just endless empty land.”
And this was aimed at the one offering donations.
“Winter Bell probably doesn’t even take very good care of His own temple. I doubt He’d care who comes and goes.”
But no one backed down in fear. If anything, they seemed delighted.
“Ohhh, so that means He wouldn’t even mind, then!”
“As expected of Winter Bell. Such a broad heart.”
“We’ll be able to clean the temple in peace.”
“Why not renovate the place while we’re at it? If people haven’t been coming and going for so long, it’d be nice to make it warmer and cozier!”
They seemed to be planning a full remodeling job.
Seherbian stared blankly at the people, who were practically leaping with excitement among themselves, as though he were looking at some strange creature.
Why did they come to that conclusion? Hmm… if they came all the way into Blanconia themselves, would they think differently?
He could not make sense of them at all.
“I’ll do it.”
Kisha clasped both hands together and smiled with unwavering resolve.
“Please don’t worry, Priest of Winter Bell… sir. The people of Hartney are strong. I’m sure we can be of help to Winter Bell… um, though I’m not sure if we can, exactly. Still, everyone will do their best to help!”
She stumbled over the end of her sentence, a little unsure of herself, but she believed in the people of the territory. And even more than that, she trusted Winter Bell deeply.
Seherbian quietly gazed into those light green eyes, warm with trust, then reached out a hand.
“Mimir.”
Whoosh!
Mimir, the branch of the World Tree that had been perfectly disguising itself with shapeshifting magic and fooling the royal mage all this time, appeared out of thin air.
Fwoom.
Seherbian lightly grasped the staff that had emerged wrapped in silver wind. Mimir fit his hand perfectly, and gave a tiny, cheerful chime.
“Kisha isn’t an adult yet, so I’ll appoint you as an apprentice priest.”
“Ah…!”
At his words that he would accept her even as an apprentice, color bloomed on Kisha’s face. Seherbian lifted the white-tasseled staff and tapped the end lightly against her forehead.
Though invisible to ordinary eyes, in that instant Winter Bell’s mark was inscribed on Kisha’s brow with divine power.
“You can choose again once you’re an adult, so think it over carefully until then.”
“Yes, yes!”
Kisha answered as if she might leap into the air from happiness. Though she could not see the mark, the moment she was appointed as an apprentice priest, she felt a cool current spread from her forehead and wrap around her whole body.
It’s cold… but I’m not freezing.
It was a strange sensation. It was absolutely icy, cold as a slab of frost, yet even as it spread through her body, she didn’t feel chilled. If anything, it was as though the sensation of cold itself had gone numb. Like a child dipping into a cool stream in summer—at first it felt chilly, but after a while they grew used to it and forgot the cold entirely, losing themselves in the joy of playing in the water.
Seherbian took Mimir back from the delighted Kisha and placed his own mark upon everyone else who had volunteered to help the temple as well.
Fwaaa!
Fwip!
Startled by the sudden chill boring into their heads, the people gasped in unison.
“What is this?”
“Suddenly, it’s not cold anymore?”
“It feels refreshing.”
The truth behind the chill was Winter Bell’s blessing.
Cold Resistance. Those who received this blessing would suffer no harm from winter’s cold. They would not freeze even if buried in snow, and they would not tremble even in a biting gale. In short, they would gain resistance to winter’s chill.
The startled people’s eyes once again converged on one place.
Thud.
That was because a door made entirely of ice came dropping from the sky. White vapor poured out from beyond the door as it slowly opened.
“Let me introduce myself again. I’m not actually a priest.”
“Huh?”
The people, who had naturally assumed he was a dragon priest, looked utterly confused. He was wearing priest’s robes, and yet he wasn’t a priest?
That question was about to be answered immediately.
“The name given to me by the god is Seherbian. Seherbian Winter Bell.”
Seherbian, having flung open the Door leading to Blanconia, finished his introduction with the staff resting on his shoulder.
“I am the master of this Blanconia.”
A silence fell.
Unable to properly understand what he was saying, the dazed crowd began exchanging looks one by one.
Master of Blanconia.
The name given directly by god.
Winter Bell.
“……?!”
In the blink of an eye, wordless shock rippled through the crowd like a wave as they finally understood the truth.
---